Embroidery method

ABSTRACT

A method for embroidering a fabric or article of clothing. A design is applied to a material using an application process such as screen-printing, transfer printing, ink jet printing or appliqué, and stitching is applied over one or more areas of the design in a density that permits design to remain visible through the stitching to give the appearance of a normally embroidered design using less stitches.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/538,793 filed on Jan. 23, 2004, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF INVENTION

This invention generally relates to a method for improving the quality and reducing the cost of embroidered designs. More particularly, the method produces an improved embroidered design by combining embroidery with other design application techniques, such as screen-printing, ink-jet printing, transfer printing or appliqué.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

It is quite common for many types of materials that are used for various applications (for example, clothing, towels, napkins, bags and caps) to be embellished with designs or other markings. Such designs and markings may be added to the material by several methods or combinations of methods, including, for example, screen-printing, transfer printing, appliqués, ink-jet printing, and embroidering. An example of a method and apparatus for applying both screenprinting and embroidery onto a material is set forth in Applicant's U.S. Patent No. U.S. Pat. No. 6,832,569, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

In typical design methods that utilize the combination of embroidery with another design application process, the other design application process is done first. For example, a shirt or other material may have a design applied by screen-printing, transfer printing, ink-jet printing or appliqué (the “base design”). An embroidered design is then added to or around the base design to provide additional designs or lettering. For example, certain features of the base design may be left out of the base design, and added by embroidery. All of the foregoing methods require a normally embroidered design having stitches of sufficient density to cover the entire area of the embroidered part of the design, such that the underlying material is not visible through the embroidered design. This type of normally embroidered design can be costly and time consuming.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The present invention seeks to overcome these problems by providing a method for embroidering a design using a substantially reduced number of stitches to achieve the same or better quality design of a normally embroidered design alone. More particularly, the finished design using the method of this invention has the look of a normally embroidered design without having the normally required number of stitches to achieve the same look. This method results in significant improvements in design quality, cost efficiency and productivity.

In the present invention, the foregoing purposes, as well as others that will be apparent, are achieved generally by applying a base design to a material using an application process such as screen-printing, transfer printing, ink jet printing or appliqué. Typically, the base design has one or more areas that can have one or more colors. After the base design is applied, an embroidery machine is used to stitch one or more threads over one or more areas of the base design, such that the stitched threads do not completely cover the area(s) of the base design, and the colors of the area(s) of the base design remain visible through the stitched threads. The stitched thread can be the same color as the area over which the stitching is applied, or it can be a different color.

Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be apparent when the detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention are considered in conjunction with the drawings which should be construed in an illustrative and not limiting sense as follows:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a shirt having embroidery featuring one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a shirt having embroidery featuring an alternate embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION

The term “embroidery”, as used herein, refers to decorative stitching on a material that creates or enhances a design on a material.

The term “material”, as used herein, refers to any fabric, cloth, or textile suitable for embroidery. The term material includes items made from materials such as articles of clothing (e.g., shirts, caps), accessories (e.g., handkerchiefs, patches), flags, banners, tapestries and the like.

The term “design”, as used herein, refers to images or representations appearing on or placed upon a material, such as objects (e.g. flowers), patterns (e.g., a paisley pattern), portraits, pictures, animals, logos, lettering, monograms and the like.

The term “normally embroidered design”, as used herein, means a design, or one or more parts of a design, that is applied to a material solely by stitching (e.g., fill stitching or satin stitching) so that the stitching covers an entire region or regions of the material in order that the material does not show through the stitches. That is, only the thread forming the stitching can be seen. This is achieved by stitching the thread at a sufficient density, which can vary depending on such factors as the type of design being stitched, the type of thread being used, the length and width of the stitches, the color of the thread, and the type of material. Typical fill (or tatami) stitching will have a stitch density of 400 to 800 stitches per square inch. Typical satin stitching will have a stitch density of 800 to 1,600 stitches per square inch.

In contrast to the stitching of a normally embroidered design, the present invention uses stitching having a density less than the density required for a normally embroidered design. That is, the present invention requires that the material underneath the stitching (and any base design, or area of a base design, thereon) be visible through the stitching. The actual density of the stitching depends on several factors, for example, the thickness of the thread, the length and width of the stitch, the type of material, and the color of the thread, material or base design underneath the stitching, and the desired result. However, using the method of this invention, stitch densities can be reduced from about 10% to 90% as compared to a normally embroidered design, resulting in substantial cost and time savings.

The term “application process”, as used herein, refers to any process generally known and used in the textile or garment industry to apply a design upon a material. Examples of application processes are film transfer printing, screenprinting, appliqués and ink jet printing. While the preferred embodiments described herein refer to screen-printing as the application process, any other known application process may be substituted.

A shirt having embroidery applied according to one embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 1. The first step of the method is to apply a base design 2 to a material 1 (a shirt in the case of FIG. 1), using an application process, preferably screenprinting. An example of one suitable screenprinting method and apparatus is disclosed in Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 6,832,569.

The base design 2 may have one area 3 or, alternatively (see, FIG. 2) the base design 6 may have a first area 7 and a second area 8. In a further embodiment (not shown), the base design may have three or more areas. Each area may have a first color, or a second or more colors. In an alternate embodiment, one or more areas of the base design may have no colors at all.

Referring to FIG. 1, after applying the base design 2 to the material 1, a stitching 4 is applied to the area 3 of the base design using a thread, such that the base design remains visible through the stitching. In an alternate embodiment, (see, FIG. 2) a first stitching 9 is applied to the first area 7 using a first thread and a second stitching 10 is applied to the second area 8 using a second thread. Alternatively, (not shown) the second stitching is not applied to the second area.

Preferably, an embroidery machine is used to apply stitches to the area(s) of the base design. Embroidery machines and methods for using them are also well known, and any available embroidery machine and method generally known and used in the textile or garment industry may be used. For example, Tajima® brand machines are suitable for this purpose and the method disclosed in Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 6,832,569 may be used. Any type of embroidery stitching may also be used, such as tatami fill stitches or satin stitches, provided they are stitched in a density that permits the base design to be visible through the stitches, as set forth above.

Generally, the color of the thread depends on the desired look of the final design. Thus, the thread used to apply stitching to a particular area of the base design may have the same color as that area or, the thread may be a different color. Alternatively, the thread may be metallic or translucent.

Applying stitching having a density in accordance with the method of this invention to one or more areas of the base design provides the appearance of a normally embroidered design without the necessity of sewing as many stitches. For example, a tatami fill stitch typically provides continuous rows of stitching that are slightly offset to give the appearance of a solid color background. The term “fill stitching”, as used in the industry, refers to a series of running stitches laid in rows from edge to edge, which are typically used to cover large areas. Applying a tatami fill stitch in a lower density over a base design results in the area having the fill stitch having the appearance of a normally embroidered design, but uses substantially fewer stitches than that would be required to provide the same look if only stitching is used (i.e., stitching applied directly to the material as opposed to lightly embroidered stitching applied over one or more areas of a printed design in accordance with this invention).

The same concept may be applied to reduce the number of stitches required to produce a “satin” stitch. A satin stitch is formed by closely arranging zigzag stitches such as in a column. A satin stitch is generally used for lettering or outlining a design. Thus, instead of using a satin stitch to create a letter on a material, when using the method of the present invention, a letter design may be applied to the material using an application process and a fill stitch (which uses less stitches and is faster to apply than a satin stitch) may be applied over one or more areas of the letter design to give the appearance of a satin stitch.

Thus, the method of this invention provides a design having the same or better visual characteristics as a normally embroidered design that can be produced in a low-cost and time-efficient manner by incorporating both an application process (e.g., screenprinting) and embroidery.

EXAMPLE

A screen-printed design of a monster truck accelerating on a dirt path causing a dust cloud to form under and behind the truck was screen-printed onto a cotton t-shirt. A light tatami embroidered stitch was added over the entire dust cloud. The result is that the entire dust cloud has the appearance of a fully embroidered design, but uses only 10-25% of the stitches that would be required to provide the same look if only embroidery were used. If the same truck design were produced using only embroidery, it would require approximately 118,000 stitches and would take approximately 3½ hours to complete. Using the method of this invention, the same design can be produced with about 27,000 stitches in about 35 minutes.

Although the invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments, it will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that numerous modifications are possible in light of the above disclosure. For example, any thread color may be used depending on the desired end result, including translucent or metallic threads. Further, the concepts of this invention may be applied to any part of a base design (e.g., background, borders or other details), or to the whole base design. All such variations and modifications are intended to be within the scope and spirit of this invention. 

1. A method for embroidering a material, the method comprising: applying a base design having at least one area to the material using an application process; and applying stitching over the at least one area using a thread such that the at least one area of the base design remains visible through the stitching.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the application process is selected from the group consisting of: screen-printing, film transfer printing, ink-jet printing and appliqué.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the stitching is applied at a density that is 10% to 90% of a density required for a normally embroidered design.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one area has a first color and further, wherein the thread has a second color.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first color and the second color are the same.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the thread is metallic.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the thread is translucent.
 8. A method for embroidering a material, the method comprising: applying a base design having a first area to the material using an application process; and applying a first stitching over the first area using a first thread, such that the first area of the base design remains visible through the stitching.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the application process is selected from the group consisting of: screen-printing, film transfer printing, ink-jet printing and appliqué.
 10. The method of claim 8, wherein the first stitching is applied at a density that is 10% to 90% of a density required for a normally embroidered design.
 11. The method of claim 8, wherein the first area has a first color and further, wherein the first thread has a second color.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first color and the second color are the same.
 13. The method of claim 8, wherein the design further comprises a second area.
 14. The method of claim 13, further comprising applying a second fill stitching over the second area using a second thread.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the second area has a third color and further, wherein the second thread has the fourth color.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the third color and the fourth color are the same.
 17. A method for embroidering a material, the method comprising: applying a base design having a first area to a material using a screenprinting process, the first area having a first color; and applying a first stitching over first area using a first thread having a second color such that the first area of the base design remains visible through the stitching.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the first color and the second color are the same.
 19. The method of claim 17, wherein design further comprises a second area, the second area having a third color.
 20. The method of claim 19, further comprising: applying a second stitching over the second area using a thread having a fourth color, such that the second area remains visible through the second stitching.
 21. The method of claim 20, wherein the third color and the fourth color are the same. 